Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of Web page data presentation and, more particularly, to using an array representation of the hierarchical path of a tree node to enhance the manipulation of an HTML tree (e.g., an AJAX tree) in a Web page.
Description of the Related Art
The use of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) within Web pages and applications is increasing in popularity. AJAX allows for Web page content to be loaded and updated seamlessly without reloading the entire Web page. For example, a Web page can use AJAX to verify credit card information entered into a Web form before the user hits the submit button.
A popular use of AJAX is for presenting data in a tree structure. An AJAX tree allows for the incremental loading of the tree data into the Web page. For example, only the tree branch selected by a user for expansion is loaded into the Web page, not all branches of the tree. This approach provides a quick response for user interactions, increasing user satisfaction and usability.
Conventional implementations of AJAX trees use arrays of objects or text strings to represent the path of a user-selected tree node for expansion. However, these approaches require the request of a new object array or text string for every user-selected tree node, even if the selected tree node is contained within the path of the previously-selected tree node.
Further, these data structures require handlers for processing that addresses its special format, which often cannot be used with other implementations of AJAX trees. For example, Text String Parser A can only work with text strings from AJAX Engine A, which uses the same set of rules as Parser A, which can be incompatible with an AJAX Engine B.
What is needed is a general technique that enhances the manipulation of AJAX trees. That is, the technique would utilize an array data structure to define the path hierarchy of a user-selected tree node. Ideally, such a technique would extend the capabilities of existing AJAX tree implementations.